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KANG   KAI^KOREy^. 

BX 

9151 

.K8 

B47 

1912 


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t^c  Elftalagicni  ^ 


PRINCETON.  N.J. 


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*/•. 


* 


51  .K8  B47  1912 
eisel,  Charles  F. 
postolic  Church  as 
oduced  in  Korea 


^,1 


The   Apostolic   Church   as    Reproduced 

in  Korea 

:■:■  ■■'i  t/. 

•?    xj  By  Rev.  Charles  F.  Bernheisel. 

:v:  ■■•■^ 

>►•■     ;;     My   object  in  this  lecture  is  to  institute  a  com- 
parison between  the  Apostolic  Church  and  the  Ko- 
rean   Church,   the   one   the    earliest   and   the    other 
.i  probably   the  latest  manifestation  of  the  church  of 

.''.:    :'■'''  Jesus  Christ  upon  earth.    Both  churches  are  Asiatic, 
",■  the  Apostolic   church   having  originated  in  the  ex- 
'  treme  western  portion  of  the  continent  and  the  Ko- 
rean church  in  the  extreme  eastern  portion.  But  from 

:J-   •,  the  Bosphorus  to  the  Yellow  Sea  the  conditions  of 

'.  ■ "  •  •  life  are  very  similar  in  their  main  features  and  dif- 
fer only  in  detail  according  to  geographical  location. 
The  genus  is  the  same,  the  species  vary. 

Korea  as  a  country  might  very  well  be  compared 
to  Judea  of  old.  I  do  not  know  that  the  comparison 
has  ever  been  made  before  but  it  seems  to  me  that 
there  are  several  respects  in  which  the  comparison 
is  a  very  apt  one. 

First,  Geographically.  Judea  was  surroimded 
on  three  sides  by  three  very  powerful  nations,  Syria 
on  the  north,  Assyria  or  Babylonia  on  the  east  and 
Egypt  on  the  south.  And  these  three  nations  in 
their  warfare  one  with  the  other  often  fought  their 
battles  on  Judean  soil.  So  Judea  was  very  much  of  a 
.  buffer  state  in  its  relation  to  these  mighty  surround- 
ing nations.  Now  look  at  Korea.  On  the  east  is 
that  mighty,  modern  nation  of  Japan  which  has 
.  so  recently  succeeded  in  swallowing  up  Korea;  on 
the  west  is  China  and  on  the  north  is  Russia.  And 
it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  stop  here  to  remind 
you  how  these  nations  have  been  spilling  each 
other's  blood  upon  Korean  soil.  During  the  Japan- 
China  war  of  1895  the  principal  field  of  action  was 

J  in  Korea,   in  and  around  the   city  of  Pyeng  Yang 

j  ,  where  we  live.     Again   in   the   recent  war   between 

■  Japan  and  Russia  the  opening  naval  battle  was 
fought  in  Chemulpo  harbor  and  the  first  lard  gun 
of  the  war  was  fired  within  hearing  distance  of  our 
home  when  the  Japanese  patrolling  the  city  wall  fired 
on  the  Russian  scouts  who  came  down  from  the 
north  to  spy  out  the  country.  Several  battles  were 
later  fought  on  Korean  soil  as  the  first  Japanese 
army  under  Gen.  Kurold  passed  through  our  city 
on  his  way  north  until  he  drove  the  Russians  across 


the  Yalu,  from  which  time  the  principal  theatre  of 
action  was  transferred  to  the  plains  of  Manchuria. 

Second,  Physically.  The  physical  similarity  o| 
Korea  and  Judea  has  often  been  remarked  by  those 
who  have  seen  both  countries.  Korea  has  an  area 
of  about  80,000  square  miles,  of  mountain  and  plain, 
mostly  mountain.  In  some  places  as  in  Judea  there 
are  extensive  plains,  well  watered  and  quite  pro- 
ductive. But  the  great  outstanding  feature  of  both 
countries  is  mountainous,  with  valleys  of  greater 
or  less  extent  in  between  the  hills  where  the  people 
live  in  villages. 

Third,  Religiously.  The  great  characteristic  of 
Judea  is  her  religion.  God  chose  that  otherwise 
small,  insignificant  and  despised  country  of  Judea  to 
serve  as  the  medium  of  communicating  His  most 
holy  religion  to  the  world.  We  cannot  think  of  Judea 
apart  from  our  religion.  Apart  from  that  we  would 
know  no  more  today  of  the  Hebrews  than  we  know 
of  the  Philistines,  or  the  Canaanites,  or  Jebusites  or 
any  other  of  the  many  nations  that  successively 
or  contemporaneously  occupied  that  land. 

x4nd  so  the  one  thing  above  all  others  that  has 
brought  Korea  into  the  notice  of  the  Christian  peo- 
ple of  the  world  at  least  is  the  wonderful  avidity 
with  which  her  people  have  been  seizing  hold  of 
that  religion  which  was  revealed  so  long  ago  in 
Palestine  and  which  has  in  these  latter  days  pene- 
trated to  that  distant  portion  of  the  world. 

With  this  much  by  way  of  preliminary  let  us  now 
proceed  to  consider  the  Apostolic  Church  and  try 
to  see  in  what  manner  it  is  being  reproduced  in 
Korea. 

One  of  the  first  things  that  impresses  the  reader 
of  the  history  of  the  Apostolic  church  as  recorded 
in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  is  the  part  that  prayer 
played  in  the  lives  of  the  Christians.  Waiting  for 
the  promised  Spirit  "they  all  continued  in  prayer 
and  supplication."  "And  when  they  had  prayed  the 
place  was  shaken  where  they  were  gathered  to- 
gether." "Peter  was  therefore  kept  in  prison;  but 
prayer  was  made  without  ceasing  of  the  church  unto 
God  for  him."  The  Lord  honored  their  prayers  and 
Peter  was  delivered.  "At  midnight  Paul  and  Silas 
prayed,  and  suddenly  there  was  a  great  earthquake 
and  the  prison  doors  were  opened."  When  Dorcas 
died  Peter  kneeled  down  and  prayed  and  she  opened 
her  eyes  and  sat  up. 

The  early  Christians  knew  the  secret  of  prayer;   \ 
its    power    to   soothe     their    troubled    spirits;      its 


power  to  secure  God's  special  interposition  in 
their  behalf  m  opening  prison  doors,  in  healing  the 
sick  and  recovering  loved  ones  from  the  dead 

The    Korean    Christians    are    praying    Christians, 
i^rom  the  very  first  they  seem  to  understand  how  to 
pra5^     I  thmk  it  is  accounted  for  by  reason  of  the 
tact  that  they  have  always  been  used  to  the  forms 
ot   prayer  m   addressing  petitions  to   their   heathen 
divinities.      Prayer    is    an    accompaniment    of    their 
sacrificial  rites.     Being  thus  already  acquainted  with 
the  forms  of  prayer  they  very  soon  learn  how  to  ad- 
dress the  Supreme  Being.    Any  Korean  convert  will 
therefore    m    a    surprisingly    short    time    participate 
in  public  prayer  in  the  church.    In  my  ten  years'  ex- 
perience  I  have   never  kno^vn   anyone   to   refuse   to 
otter  prayer  when  called  upon   and  remember  only 
one    man    who,    rising    voluntarilv    to    offer    praver 
stumbled,    hesitated   and  was   in  evident   confusion! 
But  not  only  do  they  know  the  forms  of  prayer 
which   after  all  is  of  minor   consequence,   but  they 
know  Its  power  and  give  it  a  very  important  place 
m  their    ives.    The  family  altar  is  set  up  in  a  multi- 
tude of  homes.     Where  the  members  of  the  family 
are  all  Christian  this  is  easy  but  when  some  of  the 
tamily  are  still  heathen,  as   is  often  the  case,   then 
private    devotions    in    the    home    become   a    difficult 
matter  because  of  the  lack  of  privacy  in  the  oriental 
home.     The  whole  family  often  lives  in  one  or  two 
httle  rooms   eight   by   eight.     Here  they  eat,   sleep 
and  live.     There  is  no  closet  to  which  to  retire  to 
offer  up  m  secret  one's  prayers  to  a  God  who  seeth 
in  secret  and  rewardeth  openly.    It  seems  to  me  that 
God  must  reward  more  openly  and  fully  those  who 
m  such  circumstances  kneel  before  their  God  in  the 
presence   of  jeering  and  unbelieving  relatives.     One 
woman    presented    herself    before    a    missionary    for 
baptism  and  was  asked  how  often  she  prayed.  "Alas 
I  have  no  good  place  in  which  to  pray."  was  the  re- 
ply.    "There  is   only   one  living  and   sleeping  room 
for    the    whole    family."      But    the    Korean    deacon 
was  not  a  bit  at  a  loss.     "What!    don't  you  know 
about  Jonah?"  asked  he.    "He  prayed  in  the  whale's 
belly      \  ou  surely  have  a  better  place  than  that  in 
which  to  pray." 

In  one  of  the  Bible  conferences  the  last  hour  was 
to  be  a  study  on  prayer.  Thp  preceding  hour  was 
devoted  to  a  study  on  Philippians  and  at  its  close 
the  missionary  asked  one  of  the  members  to  lead  in 
prayen  One  of  them  responded  as  onlv  a  Spirit- 
hlled  Korean  can.  The  whole  class  was  so  moved  that 


over  an  hour  was  spent  in  earnest,  heart-searching 
prayer,  every  member  of  the  class  taking  part.  At 
its  close  someone  remarked,  "One  hour  for  the^study 
of  prayer  has  gone  but  it  is  better  to  learn  how  to 
pray  by  praying  than  by  studying  about  it." 

A  few  years  ago  the  Christians  at  Syen  Chun, 
under  the  leadership  of  the  missionaries  living  there 
decided  to  build  a  large  new  church.  The  critical 
time  in  such  a  building,  as  far  as  the  weather  is 
concerned,  is  while  putting  on  the  tile  roof.  The 
tile  are  laid  in  a  thick  layer  of  dirt  on  top  of  a 
cornstalk  network  immediately  over  the  rafters. 
Should  rain  come  after  the  dirt  is  spread  and  before 
the  tile  are  on  serious  consequences  are  likely  to 
follow.  In  this  case  the  roof  had  to  be  put  on  in 
the  summer  during  the  rainy  season.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  last  day  one  heathen  villager  met  his 
neighbor  and  remarked  "Looks  like  rain  today." 
"Not  a  possibility  of  it,"  was  the  reply."  "How  so?" 
was  the  query.  "See  that  church?  These  Christians 
are  all  prajdng  that  it  may  not  rain  till  the  tile  are 
all  on  that  roof.  No  rain  today."  The  Christians 
all  turned  out  and  helped  and  by  two  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  the  last  tile  was  in  place.  Fifteen  minutes 
later  the  rain  fell  in  torrents  and  continued  for 
twenty-four  hours.  "Chance,  luck,  an  accident," 
say  some.  But  the  Korean  Christians  Avho  met  under 
that  roof  to  return  thanks  to  a  prayer-hearing  and 
prayer-answering  God  did  not  ascribe  it  to  a  "fortui- 
tous concourse  of  circumstances"  or  any  such  thing, 
but  to  a  direct,  overruling  Providence  in  answer  to 
prayer. 

Last  year  Mr.  Kil,  the  Korean  pastor  of  the  great 
Central  Church  in  Pyeng  Yang,  having  felt  for  some 
time  that  a  kind  of  coldness  had  come  over  the 
Christians  in  the  city,  resolved  with  one  of  his 
elders  to  go  to  the  church  every  morning  at  dawn 
to  pray.  They  thus  continued  for  about  two  months. 
At  length  it  became  known  to  a  few  and  a  score  or 
more  joined  them.  Then,  seeing  that  there  was  a 
desire  on  the  part  of  others  to  join  them,  Mr.  Kil 
announced  from  the  pulpit  Sabbath  morning  that 
if  any  one  desired  to  join  them  they  might  do  so 
and  that  the  bell  would  be  rung  at  four-thirty  in  the 
morning.  The  next  morning  at  one  o'clock  the 
people  began  to  assemble.  By  two  o'clock  several 
hundred  were  present.  When  the  bell  rang  at  four- 
thirty  there  were  five  hundred  present  and  this 
number  increased  to  seven  hundred  in  a  few  days. 
On  the  fourth  morning  while  praying  suddenly  the 


whole  congregation  broke  into  weeping  for  their 
sins  of  neglect,  coldness  and  lack  of  love  and  energy. 
Then  came  the  joy  of  forgiveness  and  a  strong  de- 
sire to  be  shown  ways  and  means  to  work  for  the 
Lord. 

I  had  been  away  on  an  itinerating  trip  to  the 
country  for  a  month  and  so  did  not  know  of  these 
meetings.  The  morning  after  my  arrival  home  I 
was  suddenly  wakened  out  of  a  sound  sleep  by  the 
ringing  of  the  church  bell.  I  bolted  from  bed  and 
rushed  to  the  windoAv  to  see  where  the  fire  was. 
There  was  a  fire  all  right,  not  the  kind  caused  by  the 
combustion  of  carbon  and  not  therefore  visible  to 
my  eye  but  the  kind  that  bums  in  the  human 
breast  and  is  caused  by  the  contact  of  the  human 
spirit  with  God's. 

Our  prayers  are  often  unavailing  because  we  do 
not  do  our  part  to  make  them  effectual.  The  Koreans 
have  learned  that  the  answers  to  their  prayers  often 
depend  on  their  o^vn  efforts.  After  the  participants 
in  the  prayer  meeting  just  mentioned  had  spent 
some  time  in  prayer  they  realized  that  the  thing  to 
do  now  to  effectuate  their  prayers  for  the  conver- 
sion of  the  unbelievers  was  to  go  out  and  with  the 
divine  help  reach  forth  their  owti  arms  to  save. 
So  Pastor  Kil  asked  how  many  would  go  out  and 
give  a  whole  day  to  preaching  to  the  unbelievers  and 
try  to  lead  them  to  Christ.  All  hands  went  up. 
Then  he  asked  how  many  would  go  two  days.  Again 
nearly  all  hands  went  up.  And  so  for  three,  four, 
five,  six,  ai^d  seven  days  and  there  were  a  number 
who  promised  a  full  week  of  such  service.  In  all 
over  3,000  days  of  such  voluntary  preaching  were 
promised  in  that  one  meeting,  equivalent  to  nine 
years'  work  by  one  man. 

Of  course  the  greatest  event  in  the  Apostolic 
church  was  PENTECOST.  The  disciples  who  were 
weak  in  faith  and  works  consequent  on  the  blasting 
of  their  hopes  by  the  death  of  the  Master  were  now 
vitalized  and  purified  and  filled  with  zeal  and  power. 

The  Korean  church  has  had  her  Pentecost.  It 
came  in  January,  1907,  and  lasted  in  great  power  j 
for  full  six  months  until  it  had  swept  from  one  end 
of  the  country  to  the  other,  purging  the  church  of 
its  impurity,  creating  in  the  Christians  such  a  sense 
of  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin  and  the  greatness 
of  God's  forgiveness  and  sanctifying  power  as  they 
had  never  known  before.  It  began  in  the  city 
of  Pyeng  Yang  when  seven  hundred  country  men 
were  assembled  there  for  a  Bible  Conference.  The 
5 


Holy  Spirit  fell  upon  the  congregation  in  power, 
and  for  two  nights  the  meetings  continued  till  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  Judgment  books  seemed 
to  be  open  and  men  by  the  score  and  hundreds 
poured  out  in  public  confession  not  only  the  sins 
committed  since  conversion  but  those  committed  be- 
fore conversion  as  well.  These  confessions  were  often 
accompanied  by  the  most  terrible  physical  convulsions 
and  agonized  cryings  to  God  for  forgiveness.  Men 
who  had  cherished  hatred  one  for  the  other  publicly 
confessed  and  asking  each  other's  forgiveness  would 
be  seen  locked  in  each  other's  arms  in  complete  re- 
conciliation. The  whole  audience  would  burst  out 
into  prayer,  hundreds  praying  at  once.  The  Spirit's 
work  thus  commenced  to  spread  to  other  classes  for 
Bible  study,  to  the  students  in  the  primary  schools, 
academy  and  college;  to  the  Methodist  churches 
and  then  to  other  parts  of  the  country,  until  as 
above  stated  the  whole  country  was  involved  in 
the  movement.  Regular  class  room  work  in  the 
schools  had  to  be  suspended  for  a  while  and  the 
whole  time  given  up  to  the  revival.  Servants  in 
missionary  homes  confessed  to  pilfering  and  re- 
stored what  had  been  wrongfully  taken. 

When  a  young  student,  who  himself  had  gone 
through  the  revival  at  Pyeng  Yang,  ^asited  the 
native  church  at  the  American  Gold  Mining  Con- 
cession in  northern  Korea,  his  message  greatly 
stirred  the  members.  Among  these  was  a  young 
Korean  employed  in  the  assay  office  and  regarded 
as  the  most  trusty  native  in  the  employment  of  the 
company.  Previous  to  his  conversion  he  had  at 
various  times  stolen  small  quantities  of  gold  till 
he  had  accumulated  quite  a  sum.  The  Spirit  of 
God  now  took  hold  of  him  and  convicted  him  of  his 
sin  and  he  determined  to  make  a  full  confession 
and  return  the  gold.  Accordingly  one  day  he  sought 
the  mining  officials  and  placing  the  gold  before  them 
told  of  his  crime  and  said  that  while  it  meant  his 
dismissal,  punishment  and  disgrace  he  must  at  least 
get  right  with  God  and  them.  This  act  produced  a 
profound  effect  on  his  employers.  The  assistant  man- 
ager took  him  by  the  hand  and  commending  the 
moral  courage  of  the  act  told  him  they  would  for- 
give the  crime  and  would  not  discharge  him.  The 
young  man  has  since  proved  himself  worthy  the 
increased  confidence  which  his  employers  were  glad 
to  bestow  upon  him. 

The  effect  of  the  Pentecost  was  felt  not  only  in 
the  church  itself  in  a  great  spiritual  uplift  but  with- 


out  the  church  as  well.  The  Christians  at  Jerusalem 
who  were  filled  with  the  Spirit  were  maligned  ns 
being  drunk  with  new  -wine.  So  many  of  the  heathen 
Koreans  reviled  the  Christians  with  many  choice 
epithets  and  considered  them  crazy  and  drunk.  Many 
others  crowded  the  churches  to  see  what  all  this 
madness  was  about.  Many  who  came  to  jeer  re- 
mained to  pray  and  even  to  confess  their  own 
sins.  ^  The  year  following  the  revival  the  number  of 
baptisms  for  Pyeng  Yang  increased  more  than  100 
per  cent  over  the  previous  year  while  the  increase 
for  the  whole  Mission  was  63  per  cent. 

Closely  connected  with   and  indeed  vitally  linked 
up  with  the  prayer  life  of  the  Apostolic  church  was 
that  other  great  gift  of  MIRACLE.    Peter  and  Paul 
and    perhaps    other    of   the    disciples    exercised    this 
superhuman  power.    The  gift  of  miracle  is  generally 
considered  to  have  been   a  special  power  bestowed 
upon  the  early   church  for  evidential  purposes   and 
to  have  ceased  with  the  death  of  the  Apostles.     In 
common   with   the   generality    of   Christians   I,   too, 
used  to  hold  this  view  but  certain  experiences  on 
the  Mission  field  caused  me  to  reexamine  the  Bib- 
lical teachings  on  this  subject  with  the  view  of  har- 
monizing what  I  saw  and  heard  with  what  I  hsid 
been  taught  to  believe.    Was  the  gift  of  miracle  as 
promised  by  Christ  confined  to  a  few  individuals  and 
to  a  certain  limited  time,  or  was  it  a  general  power 
to   be    exercised    at    any   time    and   by    anyone   who 
obeyed    the    conditions    thereof?-     What    saith    the 
Scriptures?    "If  ye  have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed  ye  shall  say  to  this  mountain  be  ye  removed 
and  cast  into  the  sea  and  it  shall  be  done."    When 
Peter  attempted  to  walk  on  the  water  he  succeeded 
at  first  but  grew    frightened,    lost    his     faith     and 
began  to  sink.     Jesus  rebuked  him  saying,  "O  thou 
of  little  faith,  wherefore  did'st  thou  doubt?"   "And 
whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name  that  ^.viYi  I  do, 
that  the  Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  Son."   "If 
ye  shall   ask   anything   in  mj^  name  I   will    do    it." 
"Greater  things  than  these  shall  thou  do."    What! 
greater    miracles    than    Christ's    miracles?      Greater 
simply  because  it  was  a  greater   thing  for  a  weak 
sinful  human  being  to   heal  the  sick  and  raise  the 
dead  than  for  Jesus  the  divine  Son  of  God  to  do 
them.     It   was   a  natural   thing  for  him;    it  was   a 
supernatural  thing  for  man.  Once  the  disciples  could 
not  cast  out   a  demon   and  they   asked   Christ  the 
reason    for    their    failure.      "This    kind,"    said    he, 
"cometh    out    only    by    prayer    and    fasting."    And 
7 


finally  in  the  last  chapter  of  Mark  we  have  these 
significant  words,  "These  signs  shall  follow  them 
that  believe.  In  my  name  shall  they  cast  out  devils; 
— they  shall  lay  their  hands  on  the  sick  and  they 
shall  recover." 

In  these  and  similar  passages  is  the  Scriptural 
authority  for  miracles.  The  only  limitation  attached 
to  these  promises  that  I  can  see  is  the  limitation  of 
faith.  "According  to  your  faith  be  it  unto  you." 
And  therefore  I  believe  that  wherever  in  this  wide 
world  there  is  an  asking  in  faith,  i.  e.,  believing 
prayer  such  as  existed  in  the  Apostolic  church, 
there  will  be  a  repetition  of  Apostolic  miracle. 
God's  arm  is  not  shortened  that  it  cannot  save.  He 
is  the  same  omnipotent  God  today  that  He  was 
nineteen  centuries  ago,  and  the  absence  of  miracle 
in  the  church  today  is  only  the  shame  of  the  church. 

Now  it  is  with  a  good  deal  of  hesitation  that  I 
say  what  I  am  going  to  say  because  of  the  skepti- 
cism with  which  I  fear  it  will  be  received,  a  skepti- 
cism that  I  myself  shared  ten  years  ago.  Are  these 
miracles  being  enacted  in  the  Korean  church  today? 
I  answer  unhesitatingly.  Yes. 

In  the  Fourth  Church  of  Pyeng  Yang,  of  which  I 
have  been  pastor,  is  a  devout,  godly,  praying  old 
woman.  She  has  a  granddaughter  who  had  a  para- 
lyzed foot  so  that  the  child  could  scarcely  walk.  The 
grandmother  was  much  concerned  about  it  and  in 
the  simplicity  of  her  faith  began  praying  the  Lord 
to  heal  the  child.  She  continued  her  prayers  in  the 
most  persistent  and  believing  way,  often  remaining 
in  prayer  till  the  early  hours  of  the  morning.  As 
her  prayer  was  not  answered  she  began  to  search 
her  heart  to  see  if  there  was  anything  in  her  life  that 
might  hinder  her  prayer.  She  discovered  an  un- 
confessed  sin  and  made  confession  of  it.  Again 
she  continued  most  of  the  night  in  prayer  and  in 
the  morning  when  the  child  awoke  she  called  out 
in  the  most  exultant  way,  "See,  grandmother,  I  can 
walk,"  and  she  proved  it  by  walking.  The  crippled 
condition  of  the  child  previously  is  well  attested. 
The  present  sound  condition  of  the  child  is  certain. 

Many,  many  cases  of  demon-possessed  persons  be- 
ing cured  by  the  prayers  of  the  Christians  are  on 
record.  No  sincere  Christian,  so  far  as  I  know,  dis- 
putes the  fact  of  demon-possession  in  the  time  of 
Christ  as  recorded  in  the  New  Testament.  We  accept 
the  fact  as  unquestioned.  Why  then  should  we 
deny  present-day  demon-possession?  To  call  it 
8 


insanity,  or  even  to  acknowledge  as  I  am  willing  to 
do,  that  it  is  a  form  of  insanity,  is  no  disproof  of 
the  fact.  The  insanity  or  mental  derangement  in 
this  case  is  simply  the  result  of  demon-possession. 
The  Koreans,  themselves,  distinguish  between  the 
two.  They  speak  of  the  "mitchin  saram"  or  insane 
person  and  the  "makwi  teullin  saram,"  or  demon- 
possessed  person. 

That  demon-possessed  persons  can  be  cured  by  the 
prayers  of  the  Christians  is  acknowledged  even  by  the 
heathen  Koreans  who  often  bring  their  possessed 
ones  to  the  Christians  to  be  cured,  and  their  re- 
covery by  this  means  has  many  times  led  people  to 
decide  to  become  Christians. 

All  the  characteristics  of  demon-possession  as  re- 
corded in  the  New  Testament,  such  as  the  demon 
talking  through  the  mouth  of  the  possessed  one, 
the  physical  accompaniments  of  foaming  at  the 
mouth,  the  fierce,  staring,  fixed  look  of  the  eyes, 
rigidity  of  the  body  and  being  thrown  down  are  all 
present  in  Korea. 

The  method  of  cure  is  unique.  The  Christians  call 
for  volunteers  and  then  they  divide  themselves  into 
bands  which  may  consist  of  one  or  two  or  more 
persons  and  then  these  bands  take  turns  staying  with 
the  patient  so  that  at  no  time  day  or  night  till  re- 
covery is  complete  is  the  patient  left  alone.  Each 
band  spends  its  watch  in  prayer  for  the  afflicted 
one,  in  singing  Christian  songs,  in  reading  the 
Scriptures  and  having  the  patient  repeat  Scripture 
verses  and  in  exhorting  the  demon  to  leave.  Some- 
times this  is  kept  up  for  as  long  as  several  days. 
Conversation  is  had  with  the  demon  who  speaks 
through  the  lips  of  the  patient  just  as  in  the  in- 
stances recorded  in  the  New  Testament.  This  con- 
tinuous cannonade  of  praj^er,  Scripture  reading,  song, 
testimony  and  exhortation  finally  prevails  and  the 
demon  promises  to  leave,  sometimes  giving  the  very 
hour  on  which  he  will  take  his  departure. 

The  last  case  to  come  under  my  own  observation 
was  last  winter  in  the  Fourth  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Pyeng  Yang,  of  which  I  have  pastoral  charge. 
While  a  Bible  Study  class  was  being  held  in  the 
chapel  connected  with  our  church  a  demoniac  woman 
made  her  way  into  the  building  and  greatly  disturbed 
the  service.  After  the  meeting  some  fourteen  of 
the  most  earnest  of  our  women  took  the  afflicted 
one  to  the  home  of  one  of  them  and  commenced  the 
usual  routine  as  above  outlined.  The  demon  raved 
and  railed   at   the   woman  but   after   several   hours 


told  them  that  if  he  were  given  something  to  eat 
he  would  depart.  The  woman  was  fed.  He  then 
set  an  hour  for  his  departure  and  when  the  time 
came  announced  that  he  was  going.  The  woman 
was  left  in  a  very  weak  condition  but  from  that 
moment  began  to  recover  and  though  for  several 
days  she  was  in  a  rather  dazed  condition  her  re- 
covery was  complete.  She  attended  church  and 
prayer  meeting  regularly  and  in  a  short  time  was 
utterly  transformed.  She  took  on  flesh,  her  face 
and  intellect  brightened  up  and  she  has  been  a  happy, 
consistent  Christian  woman  ever  since.  The  members 
of  her  family  were  so  deeply  impressed  by  the 
transformation  wrought  in  her  that  they  all  decided 
to  become  Christians  and  have  kept  their  promise 
to  this  day. 

Now  some  may  call  that  a  case  of  pure  insanity. 
Well,  even  so,  the  insanity  was  cured  by  prayer  and 
the  miracle  remains,  and  that  is  my  chief  point  of 
contention. 

Some  years  ago  in  a  little  village  across  the  river 
from  Pyeng  Yang  a  bright,  attractive  young  fellow 
decided  to  become  a  Christian,  but  was  much  opposed 
in  his  determination  and  persecuted  by  his  mother. 
Soon  the  young  man  began  to  act  queerly  and  give 
evidence  of  demon-possession.  He  would  throw  him- 
self on  the  ground,  foam  at  the  mouth  and  cry  out 
in  true  demoniac  fashion.  Greatly  alarmed  for  her 
son's  welfare  and  hearing  that  Christians  could 
cure  demoniacs  the  mother  sent  into  the  city  and 
invited  some  of  the  leading  Christian  women  to  come 
and  heal  her  son,  promising  to  become  a  Christian 
and  cease  persecuting  him  if  only  they  would  re- 
cover him.  She  confessed  that  no  doubt  this  trouble 
had  come  upon  her  in  punishment  of  her  sin  in  op- 
posing the  boy's  desire  to  lead  a  Christian  life.  The 
woman  commenced  operations  and  while  the  boy 
was  in  a  raving  fit  old  Mrs.  Sin,  herself  a  converted 
sorceress,  since  gone  to  her  heavenly  reward  but 
then  a  mighty  woman  of  God,  drew  near  to  exhort 
him  to  put  his  trust  in  the  Lord  when  she  was  as- 
tounded to  have  the  young  man  whisper  back  to  her, 
"Don't  worry  about  me,  I'm  all  right.  I  am  just 
trying  to  bring  mother  around."  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  the  exorcism  ceased  at  that  point.  The 
young  man's  recovery  also  was  permanent.  It  would 
be  interesting  if  it  could  be  recorded  that  the  old 
lady  mother  kept  her  promise  to  believe,  but,  alas! 
the  fact  that  she  did  not  only  shows  that  the  Prince 
of  Darkness  is  still  abroad  in  the  world. 
10 


That  is  one  instance  in  Tvhich  there  is  room  for 
legitimate  doubt  that  the  patient  was  actually  a 
demoniac.  But  even  here  there  is  testimony  to 
belief  by  the  Koreans  in  the  fact  of  demon-posses- 
sion. Had  the  young  man  not  believed  in  demon- 
possession  as  an  actuality  he  would  not  have  imitated 
it.    Shams  are  never  imitated,  realities  are. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  Apostolic  church 
was  TESTIMONY.  Just  before  His  ascension  Jesus 
said  to  his  disciples,  "Ye  are  witnesses  of  these 
things."  And  again,  "Ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me 
both  in  Jerusalem  and  in  all  Judea  and  in  Samaria 
and  unto  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth."  "And 
at  that  time  there  was  a  great  persecution  against 
the  church  which  was  at  Jerusalem;  and  they  were 
all  scattered  abroad  throughout  the  regions  of  Judea 
and  Samaria."  "Therefore  they  that  were  scattered 
abroad  went  everjnvhere  preaching  the  word."  The 
reason  for  the  rapid  extension  of  the  Gospel  through 
Judea,  Samaria,  Asia  Minor,  Europe  and  elsewhere 
was  that  every  individual  who  had  come  under  the 
Pentecostal  power  of  the  Gospel  felt  it  to  be  a 
personal  privilege  and  responsibility  to  make  known 
the  Gospel  to  others.  The  opportunity  to  do  so 
came  with  their  flight  from  Jerusalem  to  all  points 
of  the  compass  consequent  on   a   great   persecution. 

The  beginning  of  the  widespread  dissemination 
of  the  Gospel  seed  through  northern  Korea  was  the 
result  of  the  flight  of  the  Christians  from  the  city 
of  Pyeng  Yang  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Japan-China 
war  in  1895  when  the  armies  of  the  two  contending 
parties  met  in  hostile  combat  in  that  city.  For  sev- 
eral years  previously  the  Gospel  had  been  making 
headway  and  there  was  quite  a  body  of  Christians 
gathered  together  when  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
and  the  siege  of  the  city  caused  the  population  to 
fly.  Wlierever  the  Christians  went  they  ceased  not 
to  preach  the  Gospel.  All  over  those  northern  prov- 
inces are  churches  today  that  date  their  beginning 
from  that  time,  the  seed  having  been  sown  by  the  war 
refugees. 

From  the  very  beginning  of  the  work  in  Korea 
every  effort  was  made  to  impress  upon  the  converts 
their  responsibility  for  imparting  to  others  the 
knowledge  and  blessings  of  the  Gospel  that  they 
themselves  had  received.  Acts  8 :1  tells  us  that 
"they  were  all  scattered  abroad  except  the  Apos- 
tles." This  shows  conclusively  that  the  large  part 
of  the  early  evangelization  of  Palestine  was  done 
not  so  much  by  the  Apostles,  or  the  clergy,  if  you 
11 


please,  as  by  the  ordinary  Christians  or  laymen. 
Paul  abode  in  the  city  of  Ephesus  for  two  years  and 
it  is  recorded  that  "all  who  dwelt  in  Asia  heard  the 
word  of  the  Lord."  It  is  estimated  that  the  popula- 
tion of  the  province  of  Asia  at  that  time  was 
twenty  millions.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that 
they  all  heard  the  Gospel  from  the  one  man,  Paul. 
He  directed  the  work  and  the  Christian  converts 
made  known  the  Gospel  wherever  they  went  through- 
out the  country.  The  idea  that  seems  to  have  gone 
abroad  that  the  clergy  and  so-called  Christian 
workers  should  have  a  private  monopoly  on  preach- 
ing the  Gospel  with  no  interference  from  outsiders 
has  been,  I  believe,  the  most  vicious  cause  of  the 
delay  in  bringing  this  world  to  Christ. 

In  this  respect  the  Korean  church  is  following  the 
example  of  the  Apostolic  church.  Each  ordained 
missionary  has  from  twenty-five  to  seventy-five 
groups  of  Christians  to  look  after  besides  teaching 
and  other  work,  so  that  the  pioneer  work  of  evange- 
lization cannot  be  and  has  not  been  done  by  them. 
Until  three  years  ago  there  were  no  ordained  native 
pastors  so  the  work  has  not  been  done  by  ordained 
natives.  The  work  of  bringing  in  the  several  hundred 
thousand  adherents  of  the  church  in  Korea  has  been 
done  almost  in  toto  by  the  Korean  converts  them- 
selves in  hand-to-hand  work,  one  at  a  time,  as  they 
have  told  the  Gospel  story  in  their  homes,  in  the 
homes  of  their  friends,  in  the  public  inns,  in  the 
markets,  by  the  roadside  and  elsewhere.  The  per- 
sistence with  Avhich  the  Christians  keep  at  this 
work  has  even  led  some  of  the  heathen  to  move 
from  their  village  which  had  become  largely  Chris- 
tian because  they  were  not  able  to  withstand  the 
"persecution"  as  they  called  it  of  being  constantly 
urged  to  believe.  Verily,  their  sins  are  being  visited 
on  their  heads. 

Aside  from  the  everyday  witnessing  that  every 
convert  is  expected  to  do  there  has  originated  within 
a  few  years  a  unique  system  that  has  spread  through 
all  the  churches  and  that  has  been  a  tremendous 
factor  in  the  advance  movement  of  the  last  few 
years.  It  is  the  system  of  pledging  of  days  of 
preaching  or  personal  work  for  the  unconverted  in 
which  the  Christians  pledge  themselves  to  give  up 
their  ordinary  vocation  for  a  definite  time  and  go 
at  their  own  expense  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
heathen.  The  time  thus  pledged  by  various  ones 
ranges  from  one  day  to  several  months.  An  oppor- 
tunity for  such  pledges  is  given  publicly  in  every 
12 


church  and  in  every  class  held  for  Bible  study. 
Sometimes  the  niunber  of  days  pledged  in  any  one 
place  will  run  into  the  thousands,  and  there  is  no 
estimate  of  what  it  would  amount  to  for  the  whole 
country.  Frequently  our  pastors  and  paid  workers 
who  have  not  been  able  to  get  away  from  their 
fields  for  a  share  in  this  work  have  contributed  a 
large  share  of  their  monthly  salary  to  send  out  a 
substitute.  An  old  lady  of  my  congregation  who 
herself  is  unable  to  go  to  the  country  recently  paid 
the  salary  and  traveling  expenses  of  a  substitute  to 
go  to  the  country  for  a  month  to  preach.  A  band 
of  eighteen  school  boys  in  Songdo  set  out  daily  to  do 
personal  work  in  the  city  after  four  o'clock  till 
supper  time.  A  plan  for  the  systematic  visitation  of 
every  house  in  the  city  once  every  ten  days  or  so 
was  carried  out.  Hundreds  of  converts  were  made. 
The  same  plan  had  already  been  worked  for  several 
years  in  Pyeng  Yang  and  has  always  resulted  in 
large  additions  to  the  churches.  But  this  plan  seems 
to  have  originated  with  Peter  and  John,  for  in  Acts 
5  :42  we  read  "And  daily  in  the  temple,  and  in  every 
house  thev  ceased  not  to  teach  and  preach  Jesus 
Christ." 

The  Apostolic  church  was  a  generous  church  along 
the  lines  of  BENEVOLENCE.  That  first  over-zeal- 
ous and  somewhat  impracticable  venture  of  selling 
all  that  they  possessed  and  laying  it  at  the  Apostles' 
feet,  having  all  things  in  common,  was  of  short  dura- 
tion and  nothing  is  heard  of  it  beyond  the  fourth 
chapter.  The  church  soon  settled  doA\Ti  into  quiet, 
steady  and  systematic  benevolence.  They  some- 
times seem  to  have  been  in  need  of  some  exhortation 
by  the  great  Apostle  but  there  is  no  record  that  they 
ever  failed  to  come  up  to  what  was  asked  of  or 
expected  from  them.  When  writing  the  Book  of 
Acts  Dr.  Luke  neglected  to  insert  the  financial 
statistics  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  institute  a  com- 
pa,rison  along  benevolent  lines  between  the  Apostolic 
and  Korean  or  any  other  church. 

That  the  Korean  church  is  a  generous  church  is 
conceded  by  all.  The  churches  under  the  care  of 
our  own  Missions  last  year  contributed  for  all  pur- 
poses $81,309.17.  That  may  not  seem  so  large 
till  it  is  remembered  that  the  scale  of  living  in  the 
Orient  is  very  far  below  our  standard.  The  ordinarj'^ 
day  laborer  receives  twenty  cents  a  day,  while  skilled 
laborers  such  as  carpenters  and  masons  get  no  more 
than  fifty  cents. 

From  the  very  first  great   insistence  was  laid   on 
13 


the  duty  of  the  Korean  church  by  the  missionaries 
to  pay  its  own  bills.  Great  liberality  and  solidity  of 
Christian  character  have  grown  out  of  their  efforts 
to  meet  the  financial  responsibilities  placed  on  them. 
Out  of  840  church  buildings  in  the  work  of  our 
Mission  alone  not  more  than  twenty  are  known  to 
have  received  any  foreign  funds  for  their  erection. 
a  few  of  the  large  buildings  in  the  Mission  stations 
having  received  aid  to  the  extent  of  not  more  than 
one-third  of  their  cost.  Of  589  primary  school 
buildings  practically  all  have  been  provided  by  Ko- 
rean funds.  Of  1,052  native  workers  on  salary  94 
per  cent  are  supported  by  the  Koreans.  The  whole  ex- 
pense of  supporting  the  missionary  operations  of  the 
native  church  in  Quelpart  and  Siberia  comes  from 
the  Koreans.  The  church  has  laid  it  down  as  a 
rule  that  no  church  shall  call  a  pastor  till  it  is  able 
to  pay  the  pastor's  salary,  other  provision  being 
made  for  the  weaker  groups.  The  stories  of  self- 
sacrifice  which  might  be  told  in  connection  with  this 
phase  of  the  work  would  fill  a  volume.  Tithing  is 
common,  many  give  as  much  as  a  third  of  their 
income. 

Two  years  ago  the  Christians  in  the  city  of  Pyeng 
Yang  undertook  to  erect  a  primary  school  building 
to  gather  together  in  one  place  the  schools  which 
were  meeting  in  various  places.  The  churches  had 
been  canvassed  and  most  of  the  money  subscribed, 
but  an  enlargement  of  the  proposed  building  being 
found  necessary,  more  funds  had  to  be  raised.  Many 
efforts  were  put  forth  but  the  money  was  not  in 
sight  and  deep  gloom  settled  down  upon  all.  In 
the  meeting  of  the  school  board  called  to  devise 
ways  and  means  one  of  the  elders  rose  and  produced 
five  yen  ($2,50)  w^hich  he  said  had  been  handed  to 
him  the  day  before  by  a  poor  water  carrier  who  by 
putting  aside  out  of  his  meager  earnings  a  few  "cash" 
a  day  had  after  the  lapse  of  several  months  saved 
up  this  amount  which  he  now  gave  as  his  contribu- 
tion to  the  new  school  building.  "Now,"  said  the 
elder,  "I  thought  I  had  given  all  I  could  but  the 
great  sacrifice  represented  by  this  gift  puts  me  to 
shame  and  I  will  double  my  former  subscription." 
Other  men  arose  and  did  likewise  and  in  a  few 
minutes  most  of  the  money  needed  was  pledged  by 
those  present.  One  of  the  missionaries  just  returned 
from  a  countrj-  trip  told  of  a  place  where  he  was 
exceedingly  anxious  to  have  the  Christians  raise 
money  for  the  salary  of  a  helper  for  that  district. 
But  they  were  very  poor  and  there  seemed  no  way 
14 


till  at  length  they  were  asked  how  many  would  give 
the  receipts  of  one  day's  work  to  the  Lord.  So  one 
and  another  promised;  the  shoemaker  would  make 
shoes  one  day  for  the  Lord:  the  carpenter  would 
cut  and  saw;  the  laborer  would  carry  his  load  and 
so  on,  when  lo!  the  money  was  all  raised  for  a  helper 
for  the  year.  When  we  remember  how  so  many  of 
them  live  from  hand  to  mouth  such  giving  means 
taking  it  out  of  their  food  and  fuel. 

The  same  missionary  tells  another  incident.  During 
the  conflict  of  the  Japanese  soldiers  with  insur- 
gents a  county  seat  was  burned  and  some  time  after 
the  people  came  back  and  commenced  to  rebuild. 
Everywhere  sites  were  preempted  for  i=;tores  and 
dwellings.  A  godly  old  deacon  from  a  country' 
church  came  into  the  market  one  day  and  as  he  was 
looking  over  the  site  suddenly  the  thought  flashed 
into  his  mind,  where  is  God's  house?  Here  was  every 
sort  of  building  represented  but  no  house  of  God. 
The  Christians  formerly  residents  there  had  been 
scattered  and  the  remnant  was  too  poor  to  build  a 
church.  Old  deacon  Pai  went  home  and  spent  the 
night  in  prayer.  In  the  morning  his  orders  came. 
Said  he,  "I  will  never  rest  till  there  is  a  house  of 
God  in  the  Magistracy."  He  talked  the  matter  over 
with  his  own  group  and  then  with  the  members  of 
two  or  three  near-by  groups  but  received  no  en- 
couragement because  of  the  losses  they  themselves 
had  received  from  the  recent  disorders.  The  old 
man  prayed  it  over  again,  came  back  and  told  the 
people.  "God  has  told  me  to  build  that  church  and 
I  am  going  to  do  it  if  I  have  to  do  it  alone.  I'll 
sell  my  ox,  I'll  sell  my  house  and  fields,  but  I'll 
build  that  church  before  I  die."  His  enthusiasm 
spread.  Money  and  days  of  labor  were  promised 
and  in  two  months  time  the  church  was  completed 
and  the  missionary  sent  for  to  dedicate  it. 

In  conclusion  I  would  say  that  the  Korean  church 
is  like  the  Apostolic  church  in  that  it  is  reaching 
all  classes  of  men.  Among  the  converts  of  the 
Apostle  Paul  was  not  only  the  slave  Onesimus  but 
members  of  Caesar's  household  as  well,  and  persons 
of  all  intermediate  ranks.  The  majority  of  the 
Korean  converts  are  from  the  great  middle  class,  but 
there  are  also  representatives  from  both  extremes, 
the  poor  slave  on  the  one  hand  and  members  of  the 
royal  family  on  the  other. 

Many  of  the  far-reaching  social  changes  that  have 
recently  been  transforming  the  country  are  directly 
traceable  to  the  influence  of  Christianity  and  the 
15 


example  of  Christian  institutions.  A  new  literature 
has  been  created;  the  native  script  which  was  for- 
merly despised  by  all  Korean  scholars,  has  been  lifted 
by  the  missionaries  into  the  place  of  dignity  and 
usefulness  that  it  ought  to  occupy,  and  several  native 
newspapers  are  now  published  in  that  script,  a  thing 
unheard  of  a  few  years  ago.  The  raising  of  the  age 
of  marriage  and  the  gradual  abolition  of  concubinage 
are  taking  place;  torture  has  been  eliminated  from 
the  criminal  code  and  modern,  sanitary  prisons 
erected.  Factional  animosities  have  disappeared  and 
the  grip  of  the  degraded  and  degrading  super- 
stitions and  religious  cults  that  held  the  people  in 
chains  of  darkness  has  been  loosened. 

The  task  is  as  yet  only  begun.  As  yi'it  only  one 
in  fifty  of  the  population  is  even  nominally  Chris- 
tian but  the  influence  of  the  church  is  out  of  all 
proportion  to  its  membership  and  the  success  of  the 
Christian  propaganda  constitutes  one  of  the  marvels 
of  modern  missions. 

Korean  Christians— baptize'd  adults 36,074 

Catechumens  25,948 

Gifts,  last  year,  from  Koreans    (gold)  .  .$81,309.17 
Number  of  unpaid  workers,   men   and  wo- 
men—deacons, elders,  S.  S.  teachers,  evan- 
gelists     6,308 

Communicants  received:la!S-t'^cyeaT 6,823 

Catechumens  received  last  yeaT 14,757 

Number  studying  the  Bible  in  classes  from 

4  to  30  days 40,000 

Schools  of  higher  grades — academy  to  college        18 

Primary  schools  514 

Pupils   9,835 

Hospitals  and  dispensaries 9 

Patients  treated,  1910-11 68,858 


16 


Date  Due 

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